There is a particular irony in watching Syed Jamil Ahmed return to the stage after more than four decades as an actor. One of Bangladesh’s most influential theatre directors, who has spent much of his career shaping actors from the other side of the performance, is suddenly subject to the same conditions he has long asked performers to navigate.

The acclaimed thespian will portray a judge in the play, directed by his former student Mohsina Akter and translated into Bangla by Anirudha Anu from German playwright Bertolt Brecht's original work.

Syed Jamil Ahmed, the newly appointed director general of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, has called for the allocation of at least three percent of the national GDP for the cultural sector to make the academy financially capable and self-sufficient.